Domitian, as Caesar, 69-81. Denarius (Subaeratus, 19 mm, 3.40 g, 6 h), a contemporary plated imitation. Irregular mint, after 81. IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG P M Laureate head of Domitian to right. Rev. TR P COS VII DES VIII P P Minerva advancing right, brandishing spear with her right hand and holding shield in her left. Cf. Cohen 58 and RIC 58 (for prototype). Nicely toned and well centered on a broad flan. Light doubling on the obverse and minor breaks in plating, otherwise, very fine.

Fourrée (plated) coins with old provenances are rarely encountered. The present specimen, however, comes from the well-known collection of the Swiss entrepreneur and patron Arthur Bally-Herzog (1849–1912). A son of Carl Franz Bally, founder of the Bally company, he entered the family business in 1877 and, together with his brother Eduard, assumed management of C. F. Bally in 1892. Alongside his business activities, he was also active in political and social affairs, serving, among other roles, as a member of the Cantonal Council of Solothurn and as a supporter of the Allerheiligenberg pulmonary sanatorium. Numismatics was one of Bally-Herzog’s particular passions. A member of the Swiss Numismatic Society from the 1880s onward, he assembled an extensive collection of Swiss, ancient, and other coins. His holdings comprised more than 4,000 Swiss coins and medals, as well as approximately 1,450 Roman coins. He bequeathed his Swiss collection to the Swiss National Museum in Zurich, which received it in 1913. His collection of Roman and other foreign coins initially remained in the possession of the family and was not dispersed at auction until 2003 and 2004. Bally-Herzog died in Schönenwerd on 31 December 1912. His collecting and his contribution to Swiss numismatics make him one of the notable Swiss collectors of the period around 1900.